Ākina Foundation announces new CEO

Ākina Foundation, New Zealand’s largest
social enterprise intermediary, have formally announced that
Alex Hannant will be stepping down from his role as Chief
Executive after six years in leadership.

Alex will be
replaced by former General Manager Louise Aitken, who has
overseen the operational management of the Foundation since
February 2016. The change will take immediate effect, with
Alex Hannant remaining at Ākina until the end of the year
to support the transition.

In his role, Alex strived to
increase innovation and business capability in the fields of
sustainability and social change. Ākina has provided direct
support to more that 1500 social enterprises across 15
regions and developed groundbreaking programmes such as
Launchpad – New Zealand’s first accelerator for social
impact.

Alex has also played a key role in developing New
Zealand’s social enterprise ecosystem. This includes
building partnerships across the private, community and
public sectors, helping to inform the Government's decision
to invest $5.55m in sector development, launching the Impact
Investment Report last month with EY and JBWere, and
proposing a new legal structure for social enterprise in New
Zealand.The team at Ākina are all very proud of what
has been achieved on his watch - culminating in the
successful hosting of the Social Enterprise World Forum in
September.

“I am proud of what Ākina Foundation
(formerly known as Hikurangi Foundation) has achieved over
the last six years,” says Hannant. “I came into the role
with a belief that the world of social change and
sustainable development was changing, and that new models of
practice, organisation, and collaboration were both possible
and necessary. I wanted to enable more people to innovate
and make social enterprise the new normal.”

Anake
Goodall, Chair of Ākina’s board, announced the
appointment of Louise Aitken as CEO to stakeholders on
Tuesday 24 October. “Alex notified the Ākina board of his
intentions earlier this year, and we have since conducted a
careful process to identify his replacement,” he said.
“Louise brings considerable energy and new skills to the
role and the Board is looking forward to working with her as
Ākina enters the next stage of its journey.”

Prior to
joining Ākina in February 2016, Louise was the Programme
Manager of Global Sustainability and Social Responsibility
at Fonterra. In this role, she lead Fonterra Milk for
Schools, New Zealand’s largest Corporate Social
Responsibility programme, and KickStart Breakfast, in
partnership with the Ministry of Social Development and
Sanitarium.

“I’m excited for this new opportunity to
lead Ākina and to continue to support the strengthening of
the social enterprise sector in New Zealand ,” says
Aitken. “After the success of the Social Enterprise World
Forum in Christchurch last month, Ākina Foundation will be
taking the opportunity to conduct a strategic review in
order to ascertain how we can make the biggest impact going
forward.”

Louise joins the growing number of women in CE
roles in New Zealand, which as of June 2017, sees only one
woman lead the top NZX 50 companies.

Our mission is to grow the emerging New Zealand social enterprise sector and our vision is for a sustainable, prosperous and inclusive world. Our name, Ākina, is a Māori word meaning a call for bold action.

We believe social entrepreneurs and social enterprise represents a powerful opportunity to build a new economy that regenerates the environment and creates social foundations for people to thrive.

We offer a range of services for people starting out, social enterprises already operating and those ready for impact investment, and work alongside with a diverse set of organisations and partners.

In support of social enterprise, we call for bold action, lead by example, and commit to our values: being honest, ambitious, determined, ingenious, collaborative, and humble.

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